Do you work with a liar?

Back in my Miller’s days I was convinced one of the baggers was smoking out back — when he was supposed to be loading the cardboard into the crusher.

Thing is, no matter how certain I was, and how many times I questioned him (it doesn’t take 15 minutes to put the boxes cereal is shipped in in the dumpster), I could never prove it.

Then, one day, I drove around back after my shift to throw something away and, wouldn’t you know, there was “Bill,” pinchin’ a Marlboro.

He stared at me, I stared back. Neither of us said anything, but he never disappeared for 15 minute increments again — at least not on the days I was running the show.

If only I had had this list that Carol Goman — an executive coach, leadership consultant and keynote speaker at corporate, government and association events — sent me yesterday. It looks at 10 ways to spot a liar at work, and what to do when you know someone is not telling the truth.

While most of the examples make sense, some seem less-expected (excessive swallowing, not using conjunctions).

8 Responses

I do! And she’s one of my closest friends here – but I can see right thru her! She’s always SO busy….such a martyr. She doesn’t really fit into the descriptions on the link, but I wouldn’t trust her on many things.

To go along with #2 on the list…one of my favorites is when you ask a question that was undoubtedly heard loud and clear and they give a “what?” or a “huh?” just so that you will repeat the question, thus, buying them some time to quickly conjur up their lie.

Funny, I remember watching Bill Clinton utter the line “I did NOT have sex with that woman” and knew instantly that he was lying. The video of him leaning into the crowd and hugging Monica and the expression on her face also spoke volumes. If he had just fessed up and told us it was a matter between he and his family it would have been over. Instead he pushed the lie which led eventually to GW Bush beating Gore. Clinton was a smart man but a typical man after all.

If you read down in the comments section of the link, some folks stated that most of these same behaviors also occur when a person is anxious or intimidated. So it could be a completely wrong deduction that they are lying if they are being confronted by someone they are intimidated by.
I just figure that 80% of people are 100% full of malarkey 95% of the time :)

My old boss was notorious for lying. One day she would tell me others were complaining about me and i would ask them if it was true and they would say i don’t know what you’re talking about. Another day she would tell me she gave me an assignment and i didn’t do it causing problems for a workshop, i would tell her no she didn’t and she would say yeah i did. Many of us would go to higher management and question something she said and half the time they would say they didn’t know anything about it. She couldn’t be trusted at all and i am glad to say i work in an office that is much better managed and everyone is honest.